OK, not really, but it offered a new way to think about cleanliness and conservation.

It’s true that if you compare swabs taken from jeans washed within the last 13 days and those from jeans washed within the last 15 months, you’ll find a similar amount of natural skin bacteria. And this bacteria isn’t likely to do anything harmful, though it does occasionally build up a smell as it feasts on the dead skin cells shed from your legs. So the idea is that the freezer will kill the bacteria, enabling you to wash your jeans far fewer times, saving you work and saving the environment at the same time.

Bergh says he hand washes his jeans when they get really dirty. Unfortunately, that may not be quite enough to fully clean them. Denim is not a delicate fabric, and should not be treated as such. It should be worn into the ground, and then cleaned, and then pummelled again, until it’s so faded and hole-filled it needs to be replaced.

Don’t baby your jeans. The only reason denim fans don’t machine wash their jeans is to preserve the indigo colouring and the hard-earned fades from wear. Just wash your damn jeans every couple of weeks or when they smell, and stop worrying about it.